The Gallagher Thief
by Komichi
Summary: He smirked and pointed to himself, "Spy" She smirked and held up his wallet, "Thief." rated T for mild language
1. Chapter 1

The day started out like any other among the girls of Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. It was the second week back from winter break, and there was snow falling in light fluffy blankets from the thick clouds outside. Cammie Morgan sat next to her on and off boyfriend, Zach, in her dorm with her other roommates and their assorted boyfriends. It was currently 5:30 in the afternoon.

**Cammie POV**

I was sitting comfortably next to Zach, his arm draped casually around my shoulders. We were watching Bex and Grant argue about their favorite fighting styles, while Jonas and Liz were squished together, sharing a laptop that seemed utterly engrossing to them, since neither of them had spoken for several minutes. Macey had left exactly 27 minutes and 13 seconds ago, saying she had to get a book from the library for a project in Mr Smiths class.

Zach chuckled beside me, and I looked up, following his gaze to where Bex had Grant pinned to the floor in a painful-looking position.

"And that is why Judo is better." Bex said with a smirk. Grant struggled uselessly against Bex's strong hold. After a minute of struggling, he finally relaxed, signaling his surrender. Bex's smile got even wider as she gave Grant a quick peck on the cheek before springing off of him. Grant got painfully to his feet, and glared over at Zach, who was struggling to contain his laughter.

"Wipe that smirk off your face!" Grant seethed, annoyed. Zach removed himself from my grasp and stood to face Grant.

"Make me!" He yelled playfully as Grant tackled him. They fell to the ground in a mix of laughter, profanity and petty insults, rolling around on the floor of the suite.

The sound of the door opening drew my attention to Macy, who stepped through the door and looked at Bex and mines boyfriends with a disdainful roll of her eyes. She disappeared inside her room with her book, returning a second later, her eyes focused on the clock.

"Guys," She began. "Doesn't dinner start in like fifteen minutes?" At the mention of food, Grant and Zach ended their fight and picked themselves up from the floor. As we all began heading to the door, Bex went over to Liz, promptly whapping her in the back of the head to get her attention. It worked.

"Oww, heey!" Liz complained, rubbing the sore spot on her head.

"C'mon, geniuses, your gonna miss dinner" I called out, heading into the hallway with everyone else. We talked and messed around in the snow on our way to the dining hall. Once there we took our usual seats at the juniors table, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

4 minutes and 11 seconds later

My mother was the last person to arrive, and Mr Solomon remained mysteriously unaccounted for. Mom walked confidently down the middle of the room and took her place at the head of the staff table. She stood and the room was instantly silent, all eyes on her while we waited to hear what she had to say. My mother calmly surveyed the room with a satisfied smile before beginning.

"Ladies," My mother began, "I hope you are all enjoying your time back and returning to your regular schedules. Now, there have been a series of events that have led to the admittance of a new student. Mr Solomon should be arriving with her any minute. She will be joining the Junior class. -" The doors were suddenly opened and Mr Solomon stepped in, followed by a petite girl with long sandy blonde hair and forest green eyes. She was wearing black skinny jeans and a faded blue t shirt under a black jacket. Her converse looked as though they had survived an Armageddon. It was then that we noticed she was handcuffed.

"Bloody hell?" I heard Bex mutter beside me. The girl stood confidently, even though she couldn't have been taller than 5'4. Her eyes surveyed the room with distaste, and a scowl was visible on her features, like she didn't want to be here.

She followed Mr Solomon down the aisle and came to stop in front of my mom before turning around to face everyone else.

"Ladies, meet Nicolette DiCaprio." The girl -Nicolette's eyes hardened into a glare as she looked fiercely at us.

"If I _ever _hear anyone call me Nicolette instead of Nikkie I with personally snap your neck in half, got it?" Her soft, feminine voice was laced with venom. Mr Solomon cleared his throat.

"Now, Nikkie, if I remove these handcuffs, are you going to run again?" She bowed her head in shame.

"No, Mr Solomon." That seemed to please him and he reached into his pocket for the key. His eyebrows furrowed as he searched every pocket for the keys before he noticed Nikkie smirking. She reached into her jacket with her handcuffed arms and brought out several wallets, and the keys. She dropped that wallets on the floor and began undoing the handcuffs. Mr Solomon and well, everyone was staring in shock at the wallets on the floor as several people began recognizing theirs, so much that they didn't notice Nikkie slyly removed the handcuffs. In a flash, she was off, sprinting like a bullet towards the door.

"Hey!" Mr Solomon yelled, chasing after her. "Get her!" At this, Zach and Grant, who were on the other side of me, stood and got between her and the doors she was trying to get through. Her face hardened into a scowl and she growled, "Move." Grant smirked, "Not a chance, girly." This seemed to anger her more and she charged at Grant, who saw it coming and was ready to block her attack, but apparently she had other plans in mind. As Grant came forward to meet her attack, she leaped up and flipped over Grant, landing on her feet behind him without breaking her stride. Grant fell forward, leaving Zach and Mr Solomon to retrieve her. She sped out of the dining hall with the two hot on her heels.

**Zach POV**

Damn, this girl was slippery! I could hear the footsteps of people behind us. She took a sudden left and I followed her closely, praying that she would take the next right, which led to a dead end. My prayers were answered as she took a sudden right, halting abruptly as she skidded to a stop in the dead end. Her breathing was ragged as she glared at me. She tried to run past me but I grabbed her and managed to spin her back around, so that she remained in the alcove. She looked surprised at me.

"How did you catch me?I never get caught!" She exclained, clearly shocked that I managed to keep up with her. I smirked and pointed to myself.

"Spy." She grinned and held up my wallet.

"Thief." Now it was her turn to laugh at my surprised face. She tossed my wallet back to me before approaching me, her hand outstretched. I shook it.

"Zach."

"Nikkie."

Suddenly Grant whirled around the corner with the rest of the gang and Mr Solomon in tow. He glared when he saw her.

"You!"

"Grant," I warned.

"Stay outta this," Grant looked pissed, but Nikkie didn't look worried.

"Grant, is it? You know, I would love to fight you right now, but unfortunatley I'm still recovering from my little encounter with Solomon over there" She said, lifting up her shirt to reveal several broken ribs. I could hear someone whistle, before hearing "Mr Solomon!"

Solomon held up his hands in defense, "She pointed a gun at me!"

"You pointed two at me!" She shot back. Solomon sighed.

"Look Nikkie, you've got no where else to go! It's either this or prison. At least if you choose this route, eventually you can get paid doing the things I had you arrested for." Nikkie sighed in defeat.

"Fiine" Solomon smiled.

"Great! Lets get you into a uniform."

"uugh, I hate skirts."

**Nikkie POV**

Urg, skirts, how I despise thee. Well, might as well get use to it.

We walked back to the dining room or whatever and again felt everyone's eyes on me. I decided to follow Zach and his merry gang (except for this Grant dude who still looks pretty pissed off) back to their table, seating myself between Zach and Grant, since their the only ones whose names I knew. Zach turned to me and introduced me to Cammie, Bex, Liz, Macey, and Jonas. We got about thirty seconds before this girl sat down across from me and introduced herself as Tina. Then the questions began.

"How old are you?" I took a sip of water before replying, which seemed to annoy her. I smirked.

"16, i think."

"You think?" I shrugged.

"There are more important things to me than knowing how old I am."

"Like what!" I stared at her as if she were stupid.

"Like staying alive?"

"Alive? Are your parents like, wanted! Do you have people following you everywhere trying to kill you?" I laughed.

"Nope," I popped the p, "It's a little too late for them." She looked confused.

"Your parents? What happened?"

"Dead." I said indiferently, stealing a grape off of Zach's plate and popping it into my mouth. I looked back at Tina who was looking at me with pity in her eyes, in fact- everyone who had been listening was looking at me like that.

"Oh, Nik, I'm so sorry.."

"For what?" I asked, genuinely confused. Tina stared at me.

"umm, your parents dying? Since you dont seem to mind me asking, how did they die?"

"Lets see, I was four at the time, and there was an exhibit at the museum down the street from where we lived in France. They were showing this painting that my mother absolutely adored. My father was determined to get it for her, since it was almost her birthday. They were a little out of practice, but they thought they could pull it off. I remember when they though I had fallen asleep they went out.I went down stairs and decided to watch cartoons, excited with the feeling of doing something 'bad'. I watched tv for an hour before a breaking news report came on. I saw my parents, cuffed and being led into sqad cars. Somehow I new that that was a bad thing, that the authorities would come and get me, So I packed some clothes, all the money I could find and some food. Then I left. A few days later I heard that my parents were charged and executed by the French Government." I finished my story and looked around me. Everyone was staring at me, wide eyed and open mouthed. Tina was the first to snap out of her daze.

"So, Nikkie, what have _you_ stolen?" She raised a mischievous eyebrow at me and grinned. I smirked back at her.

"A magician never reveals her secrets." There was a groan of protest from my audience as they were disappointed. I sighed.

"How about you guys name things off and I will say yes or no?" I posed. Everyone liked that idea.

"I'll go first!" Tina practically yelled. "Ok, have you ev-" Tina was cut off by the headmistress announcing, "Dinner is now over, please return to your dorms."

I sighed in relief as Tina huffed and left our area of the table. Then I remembered that I didnt have a dorm to sleep in.

"Uh, guys, I'll be right back, I need to figure out which dorm I'm supposed to sleep in." I said to our gang and they nodded. I made my way to Ms Morgan and Mr Solomon. I stopped and waited for them to notice me.

"Yes?" Ms Morgan asked me.

"Where do I sleep?" I asked bluntly. Ms Morgan handed me a key.

"Room 251, East Wing" I grinned

"Thanks" I said and left.

Finding the room was pretty easy, it was getting in that was difficult. The headmistress must have given me the wrong key or something cuz I had to pick the lock in order to get in. I finally managed to get the gosh-dang door open only to find everyone from earlier in there! I saw Zach with his arm around Cammie,who were watching Grant and Bex wrestle in the middle of the room. Liz and Jonas were huddled next to each other, staring so intently at a computer that I thought it would explode. Macey was boredly doing her nails on one of the beanbags scattered about the room. They all froze when they heard the door open and turned to stare at me. I smiled.

"Looks like I'm bunking with you guys"


	2. Chapter 2

P & E was by far my favorite class. The main reason was that every class the teacher would have some new challenge designed for me, to test my thieving limits. Fortunately for me he hadn't gotten anywhere near my limits, but I still enjoyed the refresher course.

We walked into P&E that day and were surprised at what we saw. The entire room had been converted to a museum, complete with fake paintings hanging from the wall and a few statues standing on pedestals around the room. The P&E teacher (I dont know his name so Im going to call him Mr Smith) walked in with a smug look on his face.

"Now students, in light of the recent addition to the junior class, I have decided to bestow upon you the delicate art of cat burglary." He turned and beckoned us to follow him into a room sporting a control panel and a see through wall that allowed its occupants to have view of what was going on in the "museum".

"Now," Mr Smith continued. "You will all take turns attempting to break in and steal the item I assign you, understood?" We all nodded. "Good. Now, Miss DiCaprio, since you are clearly the expert in this subject, while don't you go first, show us how it's done?" My eyes lit up like a wildfire.

"Heck yes! But I need some stuff ba-" I was cut off by Mr Smith waving his hand to silence me and pushing a button on the control panel, which triggered the wall facing the control panel to slide back, revealing a thief's dream. I was practically drooling as I pushed my way through my classmates, arriving at the wall with a sigh. There were harnesses, lock picks, infrared, explosives and more. I sighed dreamily and Mr Smith cleared his throat, trying not to smile.

"I take it this will suffice?" I turned to him and nodded before turning back to the wall.

"How much time to prepare?"

" Depends, what are the security measures?"

"Motion sensors, weight activated floor traps, laser system that randomly resets every 5 minutes, the usual I suppose." I grinned.

"2 minutes to prepare, 3 minutes to take it all." Now it was Mr Smiths turn to grin.

"Very well."

**1 minute and 27 seconds later**

"I'm ready."

The entire class turned to me, and I could feel their stares as I made my way through the crowd. I could see why though, I had taken off the long pants and t shirt I had been wearing earlier and was wearing thick black tights and a black tank top. My hair was secured in a tight bun at the back of my head.

I walked until I was directly under the ventilation shaft, looked over to Grant, the closest boy to me and grinned.

"Do you mind giving me a boost?" He grinned and put his hands together for me to step on.

"Wait!" I turned to Mr Smith as he thrust a comm unit into my face. I nodded and put it in my ear before nodding to Grant, who pushed me up. I quickly undid the bolts and climbed into the shaft. Mr Smiths voice rang into my ear.

"Ok, Miss DiCaprio, You have 4 minutes and 56 seconds before the lasers reset, go." And with that, I was off.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, so some people have messaged me, concerned that Nikkie was gonna get between Zach and Cammie, so I decided to stick a little love interest in there for Nikkie, enjoy!

* * *

I cautiously crawled through the ventilation shaft, reaching the end in 30.2 seconds. I quickly unscrewed the cover and placed it beside me. This was going to be a piece of cake.

**Grant POV**

I lifted Nikkie up into the ventilation shaft, man she was light! Or maybe I'm just really strong. Anyways, after 37 seconds we noticed the vent being removed carefully. Nikkie carefully poked her head out, surveying the room expertly. I swear I saw her smirk. Nikkie's head suddenly disappeared, and seconds later she vaulted out of the shaft, reaching for a support beam on the ceiling. She sat dangling there while looking expectantly at the wall we were looking through. A second later her mouth began to move as her voice rang out from a speaker in the control panel.

"Whats my target?"

"Oh, yes.. eerr... the portrait of the blue house, south side of the room." Mr Smith replied.

All out head swiveled to find the painting he was talking about. Our eyes moved back to Nikkie who was harnessing herself to a rope. A moment later she began making her way across the ceiling, carefully swinging through the room. When she made it to the beam beneath the painting, she began tying the rope to the beam.

"Two minutes, Miss DiCaprio."

I saw her nod as she gave the rope a tug before free falling over the top of the beam.

**Nikkie POV**

I finished tying the knot on the supports just as Mr Smith gave me the two minute warning. I checked the rope once more before diving off the beam. I came to a rough stop and turned to examine the painting. I peeked behind it, weight sensors, dang. I searched in my pocket for a piece of gum and began chewing it ferociously. After 12.7 seconds of chewing, I carefully removed the piece from my mouth and grasped the painting with my other hand. I carefully slid the painting off the rack, while adhering the gum at the same time. No alarm. I relaxed and let go a breath I wasn't aware I was holding. I quickly clambered back up the rope, well as best I could while lugging this painting anyways. I then carefully made my way over the beams until I was as close as possible to the vent I had come through. I took a deep breath before leaping back into the vent. From there it was just a matter of making it back through the labyrinth of tunnels. Ah! Found it! I popped my head down and was met with my class mates expectant eyes. I grinned and passed the painting to Mr Smith before sliding out of the hole in the ceiling. I landed on the floor and looked at Mr Smith.

"Not my best work, but it'll do I suppose" I stated, half disappointed in myself and half cautiously reminding myself not to give too much of myself away. I walked over and began putting my jeans back on while other people went.

30 minutes and 27 seconds later

Class had ended and we were on our way to lunch. We were walking back towards the cafeteria when Macey posed an interesting question.

"Hey, Nikkie, did you ever work with anybody when you stealing junk?" I cringed, at the thought of the things I stole being referred to as 'junk'.

"Nah, I usually preferred to work alone. But I have been known to work with as a team every now and then." I couldn't help but chuckle at the memories.

"With who?" Liz squealed. "Was it a boy?" I could feel my cheeks flush and bowed my head, embarrassed.

"So it was a boy." Macey smirked knowingly. "Were you two like, an item?"

My cheeks were burning as I mumbled a timid "maaayyybee.." to the ground.

"What was that Nik? I didn't hear you." They were enjoying this way too much.

"I said maybe! You don't even know if there is a boy." I growled, annoyed.

"Well did you at least use protection?" More snickers.

"Eew, no! We never got anywhere near that! How disgusting!" I almost hurled my breakfast at the thought of Carter and I doing something like that. I could feel them struggling to contain their laughter.

"So there is a boy!" I sighed in defeat.

"Yes, there is a boy, his name is Carter Ford. We met when I was ten and he was eleven." I looked up, and their all staring at me, their mouths hanging open.

"What?" I asked them, concerned that they were going to start attracting flies.

"You went out with _the _Carter Ford?" They asked me incredulously. Now it was my turn to laugh.

"Well technically we never broke up so we're still dating." They stared at me some more. I stared blankly back at them. "Whats the big deal about Carter anyways?" This time Jonas answered.

"Well, Carter is kind of an enigma to, well, the world. No-one has ever been able to catch him. He's-" Suddenly Jonas was cut off by my cell phone ringing. I checked the Caller ID.

"Well speak of the Devil." I muttered.

"Who is it?" Cammie asked.

"Carter" I replied. "He's probably concerned after I didn't come home Tuesday." I flipped the phone open.

"Hello?"

"_Where the hell have you been? Do you know how worried I was?" _I cringed.

"Listen, Cart, I am sooooo sorry, but that museum I was working, well things kinda changed."

"_Changed? Changed how? We've hit that museum twice before! It should be as easy as taking diamonds from the French National Bank!" _I chuckled at that.

" Well, you see, I was kinda umm...caught."

"_You were WHAT!"_

"I was caught! How was I supposed to know there was gonna be some super spy dude there who saw what I was doing!" Carter was eerily silent.

"Cart?"

"_Well, where are you now? Obviously your not in prison if you still have this phone."_

"Well, it turns out the spy dude who busted me teaches at this spy school for girls and he made me go there instead of prison."

"_Soo, your in spy school?" _

"Pretty much, ya."

I heard Carter take a deep breath.

"Carter?"

"_What, Nik?"_

"I love you."

Another sigh._ "I love you too, Nikkie. I just wish you didn't go off getting yourself in trouble all the time. Where is the school?"_

"Carter your not seriously thinking of coming here are you? They'll shoot you!"

"_I've been shot before, Niks. And besides, I miss you."_

Now it was my turn to sigh. "I miss you too, but it's not like you can just waltz right in here! This place has the toughest security since the Vienna job in Rome last year!" I heard Carter whistle.

"_Wow, tough break. Look, just tell me where you are and I promise I'll find a way to at least visit you, please?"_

"Alright. I'm in the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, somewhere in Virginia. Roseville, I think."

"_Well, I just happen to be in the area. I'll see you tonight!" _I opened my mouth to speak, but Carter kept talking.

"Cart-"

"_Goodbye, Nikkie." _the line went dead. I let out an exasperated sigh and flipped the phone shut.

"Boy troubles?" Bex smirked.

"He hung up on me!" I grinned as we made it into the dining hall."Ahh, lunch!"

**7:30 PM**

I was sitting on my bead, listening to 'my' Ipod while folding the uniforms that had just arrived for me. I cringed at the sight of the skirts. I was singing softly along to the song that was on when I felt the bed dip a little next to me. I sprung up off the bed and tore the ear buds out of my ears. There, sitting on my bed 3 feet away, was Carter.

Carter had straight dark brown, almost black hair. It shined in the sunlight and would be considered almost a punk look. His eyes were what I considered the most beautiful feature about him. They were a clear blue that sparkled with compassion and ingenuity. He stood at about 5' 10, a full 6 inches taller than me.

I stared at Carter as he sat on my bed, grinning like an idiot. We sat in silence for a moment before I rushed forward into his arms.

"What the hell are you doing here!" I whisper-yelled.

"I came to see you." He replied, as if it were that simple, stroking my hair.

"Are you crazy! Your gonna get yourself killed!" I felt Carter smile.

"I'm still alive, aren't I? And besides, I needed to make sure you were safe. By the way, I love the skirt." He smirked down at me and I felt myself blush. A voice from the living room of the suite brought our attention to the door.

"Hey, Nikkie! Were gonna play Twister! You want in?" Macey's voice sounded from the other side of the wall.

"Totally! Let me get out of this skirt and I'll be there in a sec!" I yelled back, hoping they couldnt sense the panic in my voice. I ran to my closet and threw on some shorts before rushing back to Carter. I stood on my tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. I pulled away and smiled up at him.

"Stay here please" I begged him, giving him the full force of my puppy-dog-pout that we both knew he couldn't resist. He sighed.

"Fine, but I'm going through all your stuff." I glared at him before turning and heading out to the living room.

We decided to play boys against girls, the girls winning after Liz discovered a way to rig the spinner. After admitting defeat, the boys left to their dorms at 8:15. The door closed and suddenly they all turned on me.

**Cammie POV**

"Ok, spill." Macey demanded as we all backed Nikkie into a corner, surrounding her.

"Wh-what?" She stuttered.

"We know there's someone in there, or your just crazy. Who is it?" Bex demanded, pointing towards the closed bedroom door.

"How did you know?" She asked accusingly. We pointed to ourselves and said "spy." I could tell she was really beginning to hate that. She sighed in admission.

"Fine, Carter is in there." We shared an excited glance before rushing to the bedroom door, Macey in the lead. She slowly opened the door and peered inside. After a moment she stuck her head back out.

"There's no-one in there."

"Ladies."

We all whirled to the sight of Carter lounging casually in a bean bag, watching us with bored eyes. Man, he was hot! I mentally smacked myself, Zach would have killed me if he heard me think that. Judging by everyone else's tormented eyes, they were thinking the same thing. Nikkie made her way over to Carter and thwacked him in the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" He complained, rubbing his sore head.

"For disobeying me when I told you to stay in the room." She replied angrily. Carter stopped rubbing his head and looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"aw, Nik, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it I swear." Nikkie continued to glare as she eased into his outstretched arms.

"Uh-huh." She said, smiling now. It was then that she turned to us.

"Guys, this is Carter."


End file.
